Ellie's new hair

After

(hard to see the new hair cut with side bangs! - we will take a better photo in the morning)

Before

She felt so big getting her hair cut!

After her hair was done we walked in the snow across the street to a coffee shop and got some hot chocolate together. It was so much fun! Ellie told me she "felt like a new person."

Pretty stinkin' cute.

Making the best of the unexpected...

Michael took this week off and will not be returning to work until after the New Year. We had big plans full of family fun. Unfortunately, it’s not turning out the way be planned. Ellie got the stomach flu last week up until Christmas day. We did have a sick free 24 hour Christmas and that was very nice! Then Saturday Blake came down with a nasty (when I say nasty I mean it) sore throat and high fever. We are still waiting for a diagnosis either strep or mono, neither one is fun. So we have had lots of sleepless night, movies, and “sit cuddles” (Blake named our cuddle sessions that). Even though we are disappointed with the start of this week we sure have been enjoying each others company. We made smores in our useless but pretty fire place (sucks the heat right out of the house due to a missing damper), but it was worth it and FUN! We used Ellie’s new Easy Bake to make some tiny cakes, and I am getting ready to take Ellie to get her first professional hair cut. We will post pictures tonight, I promise! We miss seeing our friends and family…hopefully we can come out to play soon with a healthy strong Blake!

Oh and playing in the snow too!

We love you Ellie

Happy Birthday Ellianna Kate!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Birthday Ellie

Our big girl Ellie turned 6 years old on Tuesday December 15th. Ellie had a couple of days packed with some of her favorite things. Monday night she got to go on a date with Papa and Nana. She got all dressed and waited by the window for them to pick her up. She was so excited. They took her to dinner and then to the Disney store where she picked out a beautiful Belle dress. On Tuesday she went to school where she got to bring a wrapped book for the teacher to read to the class. Daddy surprised Ellie when he picked her up from school and had a happy meal for her. She came home and opened her gift from us. She got busy right away painting her new magnets.

That night Ellie got to indulge in another favorite thing. Yaya took her to the Dollar Tree (one of her FAVORITE places) where she got to spend as much time (Ellie needs LOTS of time to decide) as she needed to pick out what she wanted. She came home with quite a lute! She even spent some of her money on a gift for Blake. The next morning she showed Blake (who has the stomach flu) her treasures. Oh and she even got a candle in her mashed potatoes at dinner.

New Pics

We had some fun pictures taken of the kids with the Miller cousins.

Jenni Price did a wonderful job!

Thank you

Soccer

Ellie played her last game of the season this past Saturday. She loved every second even when it rained! She said the best part of soccer was, daddy and Mr. Moffat coaching, her friend Kari, running, and scoring goals! The worst part was being pulled out of the game so other kids could play. If it was up to her she would have played all 40 mins of the game.

I love that Ellie is board waiting for the game to start.
That's our girl!

Happy Birthday Blake

What Ellie loves about Blake

"When I need someone to play with Blake always plays with me."

"When I get hurt he cares about me."

Blake we love you so much. You make us smile and laugh everyday. You are a fun, caring, energetic, hungry (Ellie), a great cuddlier, rowdy, cool, funny, compassionate, animated, and lovable!

Hugs and Kisses,

Daddy, Mommy, and Ellie

Blake

Thank you everyone for your prayers! For those of you who don't know Blake got hit hard by "THE FLU" and then got pneumonia this past week. We had a few scary moments earlier this week and we sent out the request for prayer. I have heard people say they could feel people's prayer before and I never fully understood what they meant. Now I do. On Tuesday night Blake was having a really hard time breathing and it became so painful that he had, the only way to describe it was a panic attack. We rushed him to the doctor's office when they informed us that he had pneumonia and they were ready to treat it. They calmed us down, put him on a nebulizer, and gave him an antibiotic shot in the bottom, sad but good! That night I held him when he finally fell asleep. I started to get scared and then realized God is BIG and GOOD! I closed my eyes and imagined the sound of our friends and family all over the country praying for Blake. What a beautiful sound to God to hear his children praying together even though they were scattered. I know that things could have been so much worse and that others have to face much bigger obstacles, however in the moment the reality can feel so helpless. Knowing that so many people were praying gave me an over whelming sense of peace. I simply prayed, "God I know you hear our prayers, let your work be done." I am thankful for our doctors quick diagnosis and treatment, help from family and friends, and all you who prayed. Thank you!

Here is Blake... ...doing so much better!

Thank you Cornerstone for the get well gift.

Gave Blake big smiles!